Editor’s Note: This is the fourth episode of Beware the Batman that was not previously aired during it’s original run on Cartoon Network late last year. No official screens or videos have been released by WB for the remaining episodes.
The fifteenth episode of Beware the Batman brings to an end the three episode arc involving the League of Assassins plan to take over Gotham by using Wayne Industries’ Ion Cortex to control their power. Leading up to this arc of episodes, there were many references to the League of Assassins and a few episodes where Batman and Katana fought the League of Assassins directly. This episode finally brings the conclusion to the story that has been building thus far in the show’s history.
The episode opens in Blackgate Prison. Ra’s al Ghul has just released Professor Pyg and Mister Toad, Tobias Whale, Phosphorus Rex, Cypher, and Magpie. He proposes that they help him. This proposal is met with laughter. Ra’s keeps his cool and informs them that the League of Assassins has control of the city and that if they want to survive in the new Gotham, they must play ball with him. Ra’s sweetens the deal by offering the one who can bring him Batman a section of the city where they can do whatever they want.
Immediately following this, we see Batman preparing to take one more charge at Ra’s al Ghul, despite the Batcomputer’s grim warnings. As he is racing towards the League’s headquarters, he is attacked by Professor Pyg and Mister Toad. Their attack is soon joined by Phosphorus Rex, Cypher, and Magpie. Batman soon turns the tides on them by getting them to fight each other. As Batman sneaks away, he is met by Tobias Whale who wants to make a deal.
While he is racing off towards the League and fighting the villains, Batman is hoping Barbara Gordon will soon hack into and shut down the Ion Cortex. Lieutenant Gordon drives his daughter towards the Cortex in the GCPD mobile command center and eventually is forced to defend her from attacking ninjas.
Meanwhile, Ra’s continues to toy with Katana and Alfred. His latest ploy is to offer Katana the release of her father’s soul from the Soultaker’s Sword if she kills Alfred, in reparation for Alfred supposedly killing Katana’s father.
While not a bad episode by any stretch of the imagination, “Reckoning” has little to rave about. Ignoring the atrocities that are Professor Pyg and Mister Toad (see reviews for “Hunted” and “Instinct”), this was a decent episode and excellently displays Batman’s capability as a master-planner. However, it lacked a defining element, raising it to the level of the preceding episode, “Darkness.” Following what was arguably the best episode of the series, “Reckoning” had high expectations, but failed to reach them, making the episode seem worse than it actually was.
Strangely, though, this episode would have been better as a season finale. The way it ended and the position some characters were in made it seem like a good place for the writers to leave us waiting for the next season. Granted, getting a season finale and a second season is not a luxury this show has, but it was weird to have an episode that the entire season had been building toward occur in the middle of the season. The show will probably experience some difficulty shifting gears.
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